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GE 406:

ACTION RESEARCH: MODELS METHODS AND EXAMPLES ASSIGNMENT 3

Bachelor of Education

Erdiston Teachers’ Training College

Student: Ria Leacock

Date of Submission:

Tutor: Dr. Gill

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RUBIC PAGE
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Table of Contents

Page No.

Introduction ………… …..………….……………………………………………………… 4

Literature Review ….……………………………………………………………………….. 6

Methodology ……. ………..………………………………………………………………... 8

References ……………………...………………………………………………………… 12

Appendices …………………………………………………………………...……………… 14

Appendix A (Research Instrument 1 – Observation Form) ……….………………… 14

Appendix B (Research Instrument 2 - Questionnaire) …………..…………………… 15

Appendix C: Permission letter ….………………………………………………….. 17

Appendix D: Lesson plan ………...……………………………………………… 18

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Introduction

Background to the problem

(1) Description of the topic

When students perceive a lack of competence and autonomy, specifically for writing,

their intrinsic motivation can be negatively impacted. Intrinsic motivation as stated by Ryan &

Deci, (2000) is “doing an activity for the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself.” Research

shows, as stated by Schiefele (1991) when students have an interest in a topic students become

more invested, enjoy the task, and obtain greater knowledge than individuals lacking interest.

Student autonomy on writing is independently teaching and learning that keeps students’

control to explore their knowledge and experiences in written language, find out and evaluate

their errors based on the conceptual courses to make accurately simple essay. This development

of student autonomy means increasing a wide range of academic, intellectual, personal and

interpersonal skills, requiring engagement with cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social

dimensions. Allowing students a sense of autonomy has long been considered an important

pedagogical tool and hence permitting the choice within writing assignments and throughout the

writing process assists in building student intrinsic motivation; an element that many researchers

state is essential to support, foster, and grow inherent motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

(2) Rationale for research

Within the classroom setting, the students showed very little interest in or excitement

towards the writing process. Students saw writing as a chore or a type of punishment to keep

them quiet, and generally had a negative disposition towards the event. Some students struggled

with producing pieces of writing as many were severely deficient in process writing skills and/or
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clearly lacked a satisfactory effort. It was observed that the students often lacked self-confidence

in their writing abilities nor did they not show interest in writing on teacher- assigned topics.

Some students even expressed that writing essays are a waste of valuable time. Additionally,

pieces of work were seldom completed and students took little pride in completing any assigned

task.

Through the use of student autonomy, I wish to determine whether the students’ intrinsic

motivation in addition to their academic performance will improve .In excess of fifty percent of

the class receive grades ranging from a C to E as they are unable to a score of 50%. This

disinterest and lack of enthusiasm was unique to Composition as a greater effort and better

attitude were observed towards other subject areas. Additionally, these behaviours have been

exhibited by both genders to wavering degrees thus the study seeks to determine if there is an

established relationship between perceptions of students and their gender.

Problem Statement

The purpose of this action research study is to investigate the impact of student autonomy

throughout the writing process on the perceptions of male and female students of Class Four

during Composition instruction. It seeks to determine how it affects their intrinsic motivation and

academic performance and to determine if male and female students differ in their perceptions.

Research questions

1. What is the effect of the use of autonomy on the intrinsic motivation among class four boys

and girls?

2. What is the effect of the use of autonomy on the active participation among class four boys

and girls?
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3. What is the effect of the use of student autonomy on the writing process?

Definition of Relevant terms

(1) student autonomy-To be autonomous as a student is to be able to independently manage the

freedom one has in the classroom, while maintaining a harmonious relationship with the teacher

(2) writing process- the involvement of multiple steps that must be completed to create an

effective essay

(3) perception- an approach of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental

impression.

(5) active participation- the steady and simultaneous commitment of the mind of the learners

within the content of the lesson

(6) motivation- desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the act of inspiring persons

towards actions to achieve the goals.

Literature Review

According to Benson & Voller (1997, as cited in Naizhao & Yanling 2008, p. 6), the term

autonomy has come to be used in at least five ways:

•Situations in which learners study entirely on their own;

•A set of skills which can be learned and applied in self-directed learning;

•An inborn capacity which is suppressed by institutional education;

•The exercise of learners' responsibility for their own learning;

•The right of learners to determine the direction of their own learning.

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The benefits of student autonomy (a student’s belief that he or she has some sense of

meaningful control) are widely supported in the educational literature (Black & Deci, 2000;

Reeve, 2002). Being autonomous learners is important because the most competent learners are

those “who have developed a high degree of autonomy” (Little, 1991). Benson (2001) mentioned

that autonomy is a pre-condition for effective learning. This is indicative of the fact that when

learners succeed in developing learner autonomy, they not only become better learners, but they

also develop into more responsible and critical members of the communities in which they live.

Additionally, Benson (2001) added that the control of an autonomous learner exerts over his

learning demonstrates his capacity to take control of his own learning.

Reeve, J. (2009) asserted that autonomy support in the classroom context reflects a

motivational approach in which teachers identify, nurture, and develop students’ inner

motivational resources so that students perceive themselves as the initiator of their actions.

Conversely, autonomy supportive teachers are conceptualized as offering choices, encouraging

students to work in their own way or at their own pace, and open and responsive to students’

opinions and questions.

The inclusion of learner autonomy in the course of writing is a necessity since the

students need to be aware that they are the one who give the direction to the progress of their

own writing. According to Cresswell (2000), autonomy in the learning of writing can be

increased through self-monitoring technique. This is in alignment with the process approach to

writing that is also characterized with the presence of help for the students to be aware of their

own writing process (Shih, as stated in Brown, 2001). Additionally, a students’ role in

regulating themselves in the process of writing is vital and inexorable. This can be realized
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through self-directed feedback as evidenced by Ferris (2003), who stated that in writing, it is

important to arm students with strategy training to avoid errors and self-edit their work.

In contrast, the use of student autonomy has its limitations. Hence controlling teachers

can thwart autonomy in that they are perceived to be dismissive of student perspectives and to

pressure students to think, act, or feel in particular ways as stated by Reeve, P. (2009).

In summary, there is research that both supports the use of student autonomy in addition

to explaining the limitations of its use. Overall, it suggests that the use of student autonomy is

effective approach in the improvement of the writing process of students. The implementation of

such strategies will hence be contributory to the desired outcome of this project.

Methodology

Design

A mixed method approach will be used which will consist of an observation checklist

(qualitative component) in addition to a questionnaire (quantitative component)

Description of participants

The target group will be the weaker of two streams of Class Four students at a public primary

school which is located in the south of the island. The students are of mixed ability even though

the classes have been streamed. The class is made up of 24 students, 10 boys and 14 girls. The

students are all in the 10 to 11 years old age cohort with the exception of one female student is

who is 12 and has repeated Class Four.

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Description of Instruments

An observation checklist and a questionnaire will be utilized to obtain data for the

intended research. The observation check list (see Appendix A) will speak to the three research

questions that were conceptualized and will entail10 items. The observation list is designed to

record the frequency of observations made of the noted behaviours. This will be used to provide

an understanding of student engagement and intrinsic motivation. A positive (+) sign will be

recorded when students are observed to be on task and writing and a negative sign (-) will be

recorded when students are doing anything other than engaging in the writing process. In

instances where students may go off task, a note will be used to indicate what sort of off-task

behavior the student was demonstrating

The questionnaire (see Appendix B) was designed to answer all three research questions

as well as to establish whether male and female perceptions differ. The questionnaire comprises

of seven questions where the first question will focus on the gender of the participants and thus

allowing for the comparison of results according to gender. This is crucial in determining if the

perceptions of male and female respondents differ. The continuing questions will subsequently

use a 1 to 5 point Likert Scale where strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree

and strongly disagree are the corresponding prompts.

Ethical plan

To ensure adherence to the ethical aspects of social research it will be necessary to look

at several considerations. To this end, one consideration will be the observation of informed

consent. . This will be sought through the use of a consent form which will be created for
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parents/ guardians (see Appendix C) and will outline the purpose of the research and the methods

being used.

Additionally, another consideration is the protection of the anonymity and confidentiality

of the participants. This allows for information to remain private. This will be achieved by using

particular numbers for each questionnaire and not including names on the questionnaires (see

Appendix B- Questionnaire) and any other artefacts such as tests.

A final consideration will be that the participants should be aware that they have the

option to discontinue from participating in the research. (see Appendix B- Questionnaire) This

will be done before engaging in this research process.

Procedure

The duration of the study will occur over an eight-week period. Before the

implementation of the study, informed consent will be sought from both the principal of the

school to conduct the proposed study as well as from the parents/guardians of the target group to

allow their participation. The first Composition lesson will be done at the beginning of Term 2

where students will be informed of the commencement of the study (see Appendix D-Lesson

Plan) and there will be the inclusion and use of student autonomy. Students will be told the

meaning of the term “student autonomy” and what it will involve.

During the course of the study, there will be weekly observations during the eighty

minute period allotted for the Composition lesson of students’ behavior to the use of student

autonomy. Observations will be made every twenty minutes and will compiled for an overall

analysis of the weekly findings. Following this, the questionnaire will be administered at the
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conclusion of the study. The analysis of the collected data will be done prior to establishing any

resulting findings and conclusions.

Data analysis

The qualitative and quantitative data provided from the questionnaire and check list will

be formatted in Microsoft Excel and will then be accessible through tables, bar charts and pie

charts. All frequency distributions will be converted to percentages for easier analysis. The use

of measures of central tendency (mean, mode and median) will be employed. Additionally,

simple correlation will be used to determine if there is an existing relationship between the

variable of gender (male and female).

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References

Black, A. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). The effects of instructors’ autonomy support and students’

autonomous motivation on learning organic chemistry: A self-determination theory

perspective. Science Education, 84, 740–756.

Benson, P. & Voller P (1997). The philosophy and politics of learner autonomy. Autonomy and

independence in language learning. London: Longman.

Benson, P. (2001) Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning. London:

Longman.

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy,

second edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc

Ferris, D. R. (2003). Response to student writing: Implication for second language students.

Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Reeve, J. (2002). Self-determination theory applied to educational settings. In E. L. Deci & R. M.

Ryan (Eds.) Handbook of Self-determination Research (pp. 183–203). Rochester, NY:

The University of Rochester Press.

Reeve, J. (2009). Why teachers adopt a controlling motivating style toward students and how

they can become more autonomy supportive. Educational Psychologist, 44, 159 –175.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00461 520903028990

Cresswell, A. (2000). Self-monitoring in student writing: Developing learner responsibility. ELT

Journal, 54(3), 235-244.

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Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic

motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78

Schiefele, U. (1991). Interest, learning, and motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26(3-4),

299–323. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2603&4_5
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Appendix A: Research Instrument 1 – Observation Check List

Date:_______________________ Duration of Lesson:____________

Number of Observations________
Teacher - Observations will be made every 20 minutes

BEHAVIOUR OBSERVATION

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

1.Student is engaged

2. Participates actively in class

conversations.

3. Is focused whilst working

4. Generates ideas on the topic

5. Asks questions to get more

information

6. Volunteers to answer questions

7. Develops ideas

8. Works well with others

-9. Self evaluation of writing

10. Reflects on work

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Appendix B: Research Instrument 1 – Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF STUDENT

AUTONOMY ON THE WRITING PROCESS DURING COMPOSITION LESSON

QUESTIONNAIRE # ______
This questionnaire is being administered to determine your perceptions on the use of student
autonomy during Composition instruction for the past 8-week period.
It seeks to determine whether the use of student autonomy has affected your participation and
motivation during these lessons.
Completion of the questionnaire is optional. Please DO NOT record your name on the
questionnaire. All responses will be kept confidential.

1) Use a TICK () to indicate your gender.

� Male �Female

Please answer the questions that follow.

Select only ONE response for each question
Use a TICK () to indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree.

SECTION ONE: THE EFFECT ON THE INTRINSIC MOTIVATION (student autonomy)

Strongly Agree Neither Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree nor Disagree Disagree
2) Having freedom of choice during the
Composition lesson ignited my curiosity
3) I was enthusiastic to use my creativity
skills to develop my Compositions.
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SECTION TWO: THE EFFECT ON THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION (student autonomy)

Strongly Agree Neither Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree nor Disagree Disagree
4) I believe freedom of choice increased my
participation during the Composition lessons.
5) The use of student autonomy encouraged
all members of the class to be involved during
our Composition lessons.

SECTION THREE: THE EFFECT ON THE WRITING PROCESS (student autonomy)

Strongly Agree Neither Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree nor Disagree Disagree
6) The use of student autonomy has
improved my writing skills in Composition.
7) I am now better able to organize and
structure my ideas when writing a
composition.
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Appendix C: Permission Letter (Parents/Guardians)

Battaleys
St. Peter.
12/12/2019

Dear Parent/ Guardian,

In partial fulfilment of the Bachelor of Education Degree I am pursuing at Erdiston Teachers’

Training College, I am required to choose an area applicable to my classroom practice and
develop an Action Research proposal. I am presently in the final year of this programme.

To this end, I would like to conduct this research in the class Four I presently teach and would
like you to grant your child/ward permission to participate .My selected topic is “The impact of
Student Autonomy on the motivation and involvement on male and female Class 4 Students
during Composition.”

The information gathered will be held in the utmost confidence and participants will be kept
confidential. Participation in this study is voluntary.

Thanking you in advance for your cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

……………………………

Student

Erdiston Teachers’ Training College

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Appendix D: Lesson Plan

LESSON PLAN

Date: Tuesday, 7th January, 2020 Time: 9.00 a.m. -10.20 a.m. Duration: 80 min

Class: Four Age Range: 10-11years

Subject: Composition Topic: Narrative Writing

Objectives:

 Generate ideas using the story ending provided.

 Develop a suitable title for the story based on the provide ending.
 Create a storyline using appropriate facts and details to build a composition based on the
given ending.
 Listen attentively without interruption when others are speaking.
 Speak with clarity in complete sentences
 Write paragraphs to create a story using the given ending.

Teaching Strategies/ Methods Brainstorming, Questioning, Discussion

Resources/Technology: story ending, concept map, exercise books

Set Induction:

 Students will be informed that this will be the first lesson in an 8 week research project.
Subsequently, they will be informed of the purpose of the research, the methods to be
used and the possible outcomes of the research. Additionally, they will be reminded that
participation is voluntary.
 Students will listen to a reading of a sample composition. Students will subsequently be
asked to identify the piece of writing that was read. The topic “Narrative Writing” will
then be written on the chalkboard.
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Learning Activities/ Experiences:

Students will:

 be told that a story can be developed from a given ending and subsequently will be given
a story ending to focus on.
 generate ideas to create possible story titles using the given ending.
 use the questions who, what, when, where and why to be assist them in creating a
storyline
 share ideas with classmates. Students will be selected randomly.

Assessment Procedures:

 Students will be questioned on what was discussed in today’s lesson, to evaluate the
extent of their understanding
 Students will write at least 3 paragraphs to create the story on the given ending.

Closure:

 The salient points of the lesson will be recapped and a completed composition will be
read.

Follow- Up Activity:

 Students will write second draft of composition for homework.

Evaluation:___________________________________________________________________
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Signature: ____________________________________